CB

Am I allowed to have a favorite sibling? Well, I do, and I think it's OK because she's everybody's favorite. Corrie Beth Snell is just about the biggest blessing my family has ever had. We all love her so much, and wouldn't change her for anything. It's heartbreaking for me to hear that somewhere around 90% of babies with Down Syndrome are aborted. These special spirits teach us so much about what it means to truly love others, just as Corrie has taught me.

Here are a few photos of "CB," as I like to call her:

Corrie has a special attachment to Caleb. She frequently calls him the "best brother I ever had!" (She tells my sister's husband that too.)

Here they are together on the Oceanside Pier.

Corrie loves being in the limelight. Don't even try to take a picture without her in it. On several occasions she has wiggled her way between Caleb and I.

Take our wedding day, for example. I stood up to say a few words, and Corrie had slipped into my chair before I could sit back down.

Here she is again. She has to be the closest one to the bride and groom.

This is Caleb and I after we exited the temple. I don't think we have one picture of us without Corrie in it.

And here she is again, jumping right in front of the camera.

And Again...

And again...

I sure love this girl!!!

Summa Cum What?

I like bragging about my husband, so this will be a bragging post. Caleb graduated a few weeks ago with his Chemical Engineering Degree from BYU. He graduated Summa Cum Laude, meaning he was in the top 1% of BYU’s graduating class. What was the GPA requirement to earn such an honor you ask? 3.99. But Caleb doesn’t like odd numbers. He graduated from BYU’s most difficult major with a 4.0! Nobody else even came close to that in his college. Caleb was also asked to speak at graduation. We got front row seats for that of course.

And, my mom even surprised us and drove through the night from California to see Caleb graduate. My aunt DeeDee came, along with my grandparents. Interestingly, Caleb had more of my family members at his graduation than I did. I've accepted the fact that everyone likes him more than me. It’s ok. I do too.

Caleb and his very proud parents.

Right before he received his diploma. The bib-looking thing is a "stole" signifying Caleb's membership in some elite academic society. (Thau Beta Pi? Can't remember.)

This is us outside the Smith Fieldhouse, where Convocation was held.

This is Caleb in front of the building he practically lived in for the past five years.

This is a personal favorite… reenacting many of our date nights while we were engaged and dating: Caleb doing homework while I was zonked out next to him in the ChemE computer lab. It must be love.

We also had a lot of fun with Caleb’s family while they were here. One memorable trip was fishing in the Provo river.

Here we all are with the fish we caught. Caleb didn’t catch one at first because he was helping everyone else. Don’t worry, though. He put on his new waders and hat, and caught a real winner!

Aw, isn't he cute?

Time Goes By...So Slowly

Well, it’s been far too long since I’ve posted. Firstly, I am rather vexed that I can’t get my blog background to show up anymore. Caleb and I both followed the instructions to fix the problem, but to no avail. So I chose a simple replacement background. Oh well, no biggie.

Anyhoo… Lots has changed in the past few months. Caleb and I are now living in Springville, Utah with an elderly woman named Sherry. I took a job as her live-in nurse, and we’ll be here until January. Sherry is great, but the job isn’t quite what we’d hoped. Sherry has to have someone with her at all times (per request of her daughters), and she never likes to go anywhere. Hence, I never go anywhere. Cabin Fever anyone? I am always aching to get away, but the only break I get is from 12-2pm every day, and sometimes my relief doesn’t show up (like today. Grr.) But we made a commitment to stay here, and that’s what we’ll do. And I will try to have a positive attitude in the meantime.

In all of my spare time around the house I have taken up a few hobbies (I say hobbies, not talents. There is apparently a big difference; one implies a certain level of skill, of which I have none.) Nonetheless, I have enjoyed doing new things. Some of them are…

Baking. My favorite find so far is a chocolate zucchini bread recipe. To Die For. But I’ve also had fun creating other fun desserts. The only downside: someone has to eat the desserts, meaning I get fat.

Reading for FUN. Gosh, I haven’t done that in like ten years. So far I’ve read A Farwell to Arms (not so great. Good perspective on war, though), Sense and Sensibility (enjoyable, and very similar to the movie), Jane Eyre (Love love love. There are few books I've enjoyed more), and The Lost Symbol (from the guy who wrote the DaVinci Code. Dark, but intriguing). I am now moving on to Ivanhoe, the book that Robin Hood is based on. I’m only on chapter 2, but so far there’s no hint of robbing the rich to feed the poor. We’ll see.

Piano. Well, this isn’t really a new interest. I’ve been playing since forever. But now I spend my time learning every hymn in the hymn book. Why? Because I’m the unofficial Relief Society Pianist. For the eight weeks I’ve been in the ward, the real pianist has been MIA. So they call on me to fill in. The chorister has a strange attraction to obscure songs that I’ve never heard before. So I have to prepare.

Still, I get rather lonely here, so if anyone in the Springville area want to come by, I’d LOVE to see you!

Wedding Pics

We finally got our wedding photos! Here are a few of my favorites...

Getting used to the camera.

Whispering sweet nothings...

Outside the reception venue. Wish I had this one in color.

This is what the temple looked like on my wedding day.

Thank you, Photo Shop.

The classic "wedding bands in bouquet" shot

Me and my "flower girl" Corrie Beth. I sure love her.

The Girls

The Silly boys

Groomsmen and Bridesmaids

Caleb pointed out that I like all the shots where his face is covered. I promise that is a coincidence.

He makes me work for it.

The lovely La Jolla shore

Dunno what to say about this one, except for I like it.

And we're still just as happy today.

Lindsey Snell Miskin, RN, BS

I DID IT! After four years of nursing lectures, projects, homework, and tests, I finally passed the mother of all nursing tests: the NCLEX. Now I'm an official registered nurse. I passed in 75 questions, which is the least amount of questions possible to pass in. I've committed to my job now for the next six months, but after that I will be looking for an RN position somewhere. So if anyone has any leads or connections, let me know!

I love weddings...

One of my best friends and roommate of three years Maria got married on June 19 in San Diego. So after four weeks of marriage, and despite the chagrin of my husband, I left Caleb for four days to go see Colby and Maria get hitched. Here's a pic of the lovely bride and groom:

Maria wore her grandmother's wedding dress. She rocked the vintage look. But let's be honest. She is so beautiful she'd make a paper bag look good. For some reason I love this pic of their feet.

Caleb was afraid I would run off with one of the groomsmen. This is as close as I got. It's Maria's pet tortoise, Salt. Pepper died.

Here are Maria's college friends: Katie Willis, Mandie Nufer, Me, and Jen Assily. We called ourselves the "Second Hand Bridesmaids" because Maria's sisters and sisters in law were all official bridesmaids. But we still dressed to match, and they even gave us little bouquets! We had the self-appointed task of grazing the dessert tables. We didn't want any delicious food to be left uneaten!

Flashback to my own wedding day. I feel for you, Maria. It makes taking pictures very difficult.

But hey. Just embrace it!

Maria didn't have a bouquet toss, but all the single bridesmaids still wanted the added luck. Thus, we created our own. This picture is taken mid toss. I call it "Desperation." Love those eyes, Katie. I think you're next!

On the way back to Provo we stopped at my parent's house in Temecula. We felt so bloated after the food-filled weekend that Corrie led us in the "Barbie Workout Video!" We had a blast, even if we burned more calories laughing than actually exercising.

It was an exciting weekend, but I was glad to see Caleb again. After all, who wouldn't wanna come home to this?




(Love you babe!)

Saturday with the Schlappis

Two weeks ago Caleb and I watched my cousins Sarah, Sammi, and Spencer in Lehi while their parents went down to Arizona for a wedding. We had so much fun together! I have a renewed appreciation for motherhood, however. Over the weekend, we did all sorts of fun things like...

Rockclimbing at Liberty Land!

Yes, Caleb wanted to play, too.

Sarah and Sammi raced to the top. Two of the most competitive sisters I have ever seen (except for my sister Justyn and I.)

The "Kids" also had a blast driving race cars, until it started to rain.

We watched Sammi's soccer game. Even after a kicked ball to the face, she still outplayed all her teammates. I hope this soccer thing sticks, and we have another player in the family.

And here are the cutest (and youngest) soccer parents in Lehi...